The Orlando Magic are eager to gauge progress in their preseason opener

All summer, and throughout these first days of fall, Orlando Magic players have tried to add new wrinkles to their respective games.

Arron Afflalo did grueling workouts designed to improve his endurance and, therefore, make him a more rugged defender. Andrew Nicholson sought to add a 3-point shot to his offensive arsenal. Maurice Harkless worked on his ball-handling and tweaked his shooting motion. And those are just a few of the examples.

But how much impact will that work have on the season ahead? That question will begin to be answered when the Magic play their preseason opener Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans in Jacksonville.

"If you were to watch practice, you would see, I think, a new confidence level with our guys," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said.

"But it's a little different when you're in our practice facility than when the lights are on and the popcorn's popping and you're playing against a true opponent. So that is what I'm looking forward to: seeing if that competitive nature carries over to a true opponent."

Vaughn doesn't expect to play any player more than one half, but there will be plenty of opportunities to extend his players' minutes the rest of October.

The Magic will play eight exhibitions over a 17-day span.

That stretch will begin at Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena. A little over 4,800 tickets had been sold as of Tuesday afternoon, according to one of the game's organizers.

"Those are games you want to win, but they're also practice games," point guard Jameer Nelson said. "The things that we talk about in practices ... we want to accomplish. We want to run our offense and execute it well. We want to do the things that we've been taught and have been working on on defense."

The matchup will serve as the preseason debut of Victor Oladipo, the second overall pick in June's NBA Draft.

For Oladipo, a natural shooting guard, the preseason is especially important because he's learning to play point guard. He can expect other teams to test his ball-handling skills.

"Victor's doing well," Nelson said. "Obviously, it's a new position for him. He's a smart kid. Very humble. He wants to be the best. One thing about him is he's willing to learn and he will learn. It's about everybody getting better, and for him, it's even more [important] because he's learning a new position."

Afflalo said: "I'm really, really impressed with Victor defensively. He's got a great motor. He has great lateral quickness."

The Magic might arrive in Jacksonville a bit sluggish, because the players will take a bus from Orlando to Veterans Memorial Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

Vaughn said he's been impressed with how competitive his team's scrimmages have been.

"I want to see that carry over from practice," he said. "[I want to see] a physicality, an aggressiveness on both ends of the floor.

"I think we've really pushed ourselves in camp. I want to see it basically against real competition. That's really the gist of what I want to see: where we are against everyone else."

On Wednesday night, the questions will begin to be answered.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.